Twitter was David’s public platform and tools for practicing a new language – clear and understandable for everyone, it was a space where he made friends and enemies.

Only David's replies are saved in Twitter archive. Visit the external links to see the full discussions. If the tweet being replied to was deleted, it's gone.

Tweets 7,501 Replies 51,144 Retweets 24,559 Everything 83,204
Sun 3 May 2020 10:38

@SikotiHamiltonR @slambert360 say .@alpashah001 didn’t you tell me once Marx was thinking of becoming an anthropologist at the end of his life and might even have done some exploratory fieldwork in Tunisia? I guess that was after his cowboy phase.

Sun 3 May 2020 10:37

@SikotiHamiltonR @slambert360 but yes, his remarks on India were very much in that “have to do away with all this idyllic community nonsense & industrialise before there can be a revolution” vein & then later he discovered anthropology and became entranced with it

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Sun 3 May 2020 10:34

@SikotiHamiltonR @slambert360 well I think “idiocy” was of rural life (“idiot” is Greek for someone who looks only out for himself, so it’s the same point as his peasants as a sack of potatoes) but yeah, he definitely saw the Russian mir as something he could work with, which Lenin didn’t.

Sun 3 May 2020 10:31

@scottsgonetopot @kropotkin39 @davidwengrow but he wasn’t an anthropologist and writing at the time he did he had to deal with what was available, & anthros were especially bad at describing consensus process in other societies (possibly lacking the language skills) 3/

Sun 3 May 2020 10:30

@scottsgonetopot @kropotkin39 @davidwengrow therefore they didn’t count, somehow, in the history of democracy. In fact, “tribal” assemblies aren’t like that. Malagasy fokon’olona, or consensus-based democratic assemblies, for example, are explicitly assumed to happen between people who are not kin 2/

Sun 3 May 2020 10:27

@scottsgonetopot @kropotkin39 @davidwengrow Bookchin does make certain evolutionist assumptions that turn out not to be justified: i.e., he backed his position against consensus on the assumption that all existing public assemblies before Greece were “tribal” & therefore involved kin, not fellow citizens…. 1/

Sat 2 May 2020 17:07

@SyksyRasanen there’s a lot of institutions that are basically gliding on past capital. When I was at Yale I realised it was like that. They didn’t have to be good. They were Yale. They could only hire mediocrities as full professors for a hundred years before anyone noticed the pattern .

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Sat 2 May 2020 15:30

@pigreen1 @Le_NML umm, do you have even the slightest idea what the term is actually supposed to refer to? Or do you just like to hear yourself talk?

Sat 2 May 2020 14:45

@VanessaSpedding @robbopalmer @Spence74435416 if nothing else it shows that what I said was entirely correct: they’re not journalists, they’re propagandists, & will use whatever means it takes to bludgeon the public into going along with their version of consensus reality

Sat 2 May 2020 14:44

@VanessaSpedding @robbopalmer @Spence74435416 in theory they are providing a service to the public, or if one must be totally neoliberal, a product to consumers. Either way it’s completely insane for them to be scolding and attacking us, the public/consumers, for complaining about the product

Sat 2 May 2020 14:43

@VanessaSpedding @robbopalmer @Spence74435416 I mean I have the guy muted because he’s not here for any other reason than to play the troll, try to provoke and then condemn people. But the sense of entitlement & privilege is beyond imagination. They really think the world belongs to them.

Sat 2 May 2020 14:42

@VanessaSpedding @robbopalmer @Spence74435416 he knows very well what “disabusing” actually means. He’s playing games. Remember: they’re the ones who went personal and abusive. It’s the sheer vanity of power and privilege outraged that anyone would challenge it.

Sat 2 May 2020 12:43

@walangsalapi (actually on reflection I’d go further – I’d bet anything he was calling his father after that saying “dad! stop fighting my battles for me! you’re totally embarrassing me!”)

Sat 2 May 2020 11:45

@johnofsurrey @EdCranesBroom @Angie_RejoinEU @leftyjew I’m sure the guy thinks it’s funny, since he’s demanding to be free to work (end the lockdown). Just, you know, by implying he’d like to put the Jewish governor in an oven. He might not even know he’s a Nazi. Sometimes they don’t.

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Sat 2 May 2020 11:32

@walangsalapi (though in all fairness I doubt he got his dad to do anything. I think his dad is just super-protective.)

Sat 2 May 2020 11:30

@walangsalapi Basically he’s saying “I was born to this. How dare YOU who rose above your station put on airs?” Sure, Gov.. I’ll go back to the gravel pit & you go back to telling everyone about workers’ struggles on Mayday

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Sat 2 May 2020 11:26

@walangsalapi oh wow, so now he’s going after me personally. He’s part of a media dynasty, but he’s publicly calling me out as a child of factory workers who had the temerity to get a scholarship to an elite high school for three years, & take a low-level job at a famous university

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Sat 2 May 2020 10:30

@rattlecans @PaddyTofu found all these restaurant supply places with no restaurants to supply that send you boxes of fresh fruit, vegetables … Health good. How about yourself? Keeping safe?

Sat 2 May 2020 10:29

@ProletkultRisi1 @robbopalmer @URESG76 I basically argued that BBC journalists are not acting as journalists (informing the public of things they ought to know, or might like to know) but as cops: saying what policies or behaviour is permissible. He totally proved my point. 3/

Sat 2 May 2020 10:26

@ProletkultRisi1 @robbopalmer @URESG76 the thing about integrity was in the future tense, so I only called on him to quit, didn’t say he should have already. But even that was bait. This is pretty much the definition of bullying: attack someone, try to elicit a response you can use as retroactive justification 2/

Sat 2 May 2020 10:25

@ProletkultRisi1 @robbopalmer @URESG76 the hilarious thing is he fell right into my trap. That tweet was one I intentionally left up for I think 10 seconds then took down, just to see if I was dealing with a troll who was trying to provoke something rude & would instantly screen-shot it. He of course did. 1/

Sat 2 May 2020 10:23

@PhilJon07784075 @dominicgarrett2 yes I got this from some Guardian lefties all the time. They just seemed absolutely incredulous that I’d been blocked or censored from saying certain things. Because they had spent years instinctually toeing all the lines I systematically crossed.